Some of the best basketball in SWMO will be played in Christian County this season and thus a trio of Christian County teams make up three of the top four seeds in the Blue & Gold Tournament’s Blue Division.
We haven’t seen an Ozark-Nixa matchup at the Blue & Gold since 2016 and that’s far too long. The Blue Division title tilt will come down to Nixa and Ozark picking up where they left off in last season’s classic District matchup.
At least that’s a projection made by your Christian County sports editor.
We’ll never understand why Springfield Public Schools insist on rotating its member schools by having only two of them in the Blue & Gold each year. It’s the biggest regular-season tournament in SWMO each year (unless you like seeing area teams whipped at the Tournament Of Champions), why would you not want your own schools to be a part of it?
Blue & Gold fans lose out by Kickapoo and Parkview not being in this year’s field, as the Chiefs and Vikings showed by going four overtimes in the Arvest Classic final last weekend.
The official Blue & Gold seeds will be announced this afternoon, but let’s take a sneak peek at what the seeds might look like:
BLUE DIVISION
Nixa an easy choice as No. 1 seed.
The Eagles ended their seven-year skein without a championship by winning the Gold Division title last year. They breezed through their bracket with an average winning margin of 25.5 points. Nixa’s last regular-season loss to a SWMO foe was against Springfield Catholic at the 2021 Blue & Gold.
This season, Josh Peters is realizing how good he can be, the ultra-quick Flint brothers can seemingly penetrate into the paint against any defense and Adam McKnight is a polished freshman with exceptional instincts.
Ozark No. 2 seed.
The Tigers are trying to get it going earlier this season than last, when they closed regular-season play with eight wins in 10 games. History suggest the No. 2 seed probably won’t happen. It’s a sure bet the powers-that-be will assign Republic a higher seed than Ozark, even though Ozark owns four straight wins against Republic over the past three years.
Ozark is best with the ball in Hudson Roberts’ hands as much as possible. At the Republic Tournament against elite competition, Roberts was just as good slashing and finishing as he was firing away from 3-point land. The Tigers need a a couple consistent secondary scorers.
Glendale No. 3 seed.
Falcons coach Brian McTague is as fine a coach as anyone in SWMO. Clever fans will attest to that dating back to his tenure with the Jays from 2005-2012. Glendale’s Ta’Veaion Washington and Amare Witham will be trying to make names for themselves.
Glendale blew a chance at seeing Nixa in the semis of the Willard Tournament by falling to Harrison in the first round.
Sparta No. 4 seed
The Trojans are tourney-tough, having amassed an 18-7 record and seven championship game appearances over their last eight tournaments.
Jake Lafferty is the best player in SWMO and no one’s arguing that he isn’t. Sparta also can lay claim to having the best pound-for-pound fans in the area. They outnumbered Strafford fans 2-1 at the Strafford Tournament.
Strafford No. 5 seed
We can only hope for a Sparta-Strafford second-round rematch, after they battled in the Strafford Tournament final. Indians sharpshooter Cody Voysey would have looked really good in an Ozark uniform.
Catholic No. 6 seed
After a first-round loss to Bolivar at the Blue & Gold last season, Catholic won its next three games. Coach Jay Osborne has gone 3-1 at the Blue & Gold each season since 2015 and was 20-0 from 2010-2014.
Branson No. 7 seed
Branson is 3-0 and already has half as many wins as it did all of last season. Nolan Toliver returned from hip surgery to be named the Forsyth Tournament MVP.
Ash Grove No. 8 seed
Ash Grove is a No. 8 seed capable of making a similar showing as Sparta did last season as a No. 8 seed. The Pirates feature Brady Nicholson, a scorer who will get his points whether his shot is on or not.
First-round matchups
The Blue & Gold technically does not picks seeds 9-16, allowing the committee to sometimes put together interesting first-round pairings. Here’s what we came up with for the Blue Division:
— Mountain Grove vs. Nixa (rematch of 2017 Blue Division final won by Mountain Grove)
— West Plains vs. Ozark (Roberts and teammate Jake Garner both have fathers who helped West Plains to a state runner-up finish 27 years ago)
— Clever vs. Glendale (McTague coaches against his former employer)
— Mt. Vernon vs. Sparta (Their softball teams met in the State Quarterfinal round last spring)
— Bolivar vs. Strafford (Look-alike coaches Robby Hoegh and Tyler Ryerson face off)
— Skyline vs. Catholic (Skyline is leaving Mid-Lakes and Catholic is joining Mid-Lakes)
— Reeds Spring vs. Branson (the neighboring Pirates and Wolves haven’t played each other since 2015)
— Ash Grove vs. Spokane (rematch of last season’s Spokane Tournament championship game)
GOLD DIVISON
Hartville has earned No. 1 seed
Numbers don’t lie, as everyone is saying. Hartville is a more proven commodity than No. 2 seed Springfield Central. The Eagles have reached 20 wins 10 of the last 11 seasons, with their only blemish being a 19-win campaign two years ago.
Rising Springfield Central No. 2
The Bulldogs will be the trendy choice to win a trophy, especially after they won by 36 points at Staley, last season’s Class 6 state champs. Central certainly got a lot better in the off-season, with Waynesville's high-scoring Tyrique Brooks entering the transfer portal and joining the Bulldogs.
Republic No. 3 seed
The Tigers' Brenley Hagewood is so good we can’t decide if he should be classified as a shooter or a scorer. Coach Tim Brown is already in his sixth season at Republic.
Fair Grove No. 4 seed
The Eagles have been trying to make the jump from good to great, but can’t seem to get over the hump. Already this season, they fell to Hartville in the Clever Invite championship game. Fair Grove has lost to Nixa at the Blue & Gold three of the past six years, including in the semis last year.
Rogersville No. 5 seed
The Wildcats lost 75 percent of their scoring from last season’s brilliant 26-win team, but at least now we won’t have to read another story about their college baseball commits.
Opposing coaches dread going against Rogersville coach John Schaefer’s matchup zone.
Greenwood No. 6 seed
Collin Clark could show out for the host Blue Jays. He’s capable of scoring in bunches.
Looking back, it’s funny how we all made such a fuss about a future NBA G League player in former Greenwood player Aminu Mohammed. Meanwhile, half of the hoops fans in Springfield have no idea Kickapoo grad Anthony Tolliver scored more than 4,500 points in 12 NBA seasons from 2009-2021.
Lebanon No. 7 seed
The Yellowjackets are a senior-dominated bunch
Marshfield No. 8 seed
The Jays’ Tegan Curley projects as having plenty of upside. He received an offer from Austin Peay, after averaging 11.9 points and 6.7 rebounds as a sophomore.
First-round matchups:
— Ava vs. Hartville (The Bears and Eagles are only 30 miles apart, but haven’t played each other in five years)
— Aurora vs. Central (Houn’ Dawgs vs. Bulldogs)
— Crane vs. Republic (David and Goliath matchup)
— Buffalo vs. Fair Grove (Rivalry game)
— Camdenton vs. Rogersville (Lakers and Wildcats also playing each other Jan. 5)
— Stockton vs. Greenwood (Stockton travels an hour to play tourney hosts)
— Lebanon vs. Willard (Last year Lebanon beat Willard 51-46 in first round)
— Willow Springs vs. Marshfield (sorry, we ain’t got nothing)
